Her Strange Situation
by Charlie DG
Summary: Hermione's life is a lie and she doesn't know it. But one day her parents decide to tell her the truth about her existence. Now, she must unearth secrets from her past and also discover a lost truth buried deep in time. Drama/Mystery/Suspense/Adventure
1. Her Loving Muggles

**Her Strange Situation**

**CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

.

Let me tell you a story. It's quite interesting, honestly.

It's about a girl.

A girl who you all have come to know and love.

Yes, I'm taking about Hermione.

You see, I know a truth about Hermione that not even she knows.

Hermione is not who she thinks she is. She is different. And… this difference is also very significant to the story of her famous friend Harry Potter and their struggles against the notorious Lord Voldemort.

Now don't get me wrong… this is not a story about Harry and Tom Riddle. JKR already told you _that_ story. This is about something different. This is about an innocent soul whose whole life is a lie. It's rather hard for me to explain in a few sentences so you'll just have to listen to the whole story. And I beg you to please read it all the way till the end. Because if you don't, then you have no idea how much you're missing out on. Now this story is not what actually happened. This is what _would_ have happened… if only, Hermione's parents had told her the truth. Yes, the truth… that's where we'll start our story.

* * *

**Part 1**

**Her Loving Muggles**

.

It was a cloudy morning. The forewarning of a storm was looming in the distance, and the sound of thunder barked away over the small town of Amberly. Hermione sat by her bedroom window watching the growling sky. It felt a jungle cat, getting ready to strike. Then she noticed a rain drop on her window… then another one, and another one. Slowly, more and more rain drops fell and then the clouds burst and the rain started pounding down towards to the ground.

Her sigh was lost in the hammering of downpour as she stepped away from the window and grabbed a candle. Her room was dark; for some unkown reason, the power had been out for a few hours. She made her way through her room, grabbed the trunk from atop her bed and walked out the door with the help of her flickering candle flame.

Her mother was sitting alone in the living room. A few candles were burning around, helping the fireplace illuminate their faces.

"Where's dad?" Hermione asked.

At first her mother did not move, she sat there staring into the flames. But then she slowly turned her head towards her daughter. "He's getting the car ready." She said as she motioned Hermione to sit down.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Hermione asked. Her mother had been unusually quiet for the past few days.

"Oh, nothing dear" her mother said, and then she sighed at Hermione's look of concern. "It's just, you know… your leaving for the whole school year. I get really lonely without you".

Hermione smiled and sat down by her mother's side to give her a hug. "We do this every year Mom, I'll write to you, like I always do. But don't tell me that's the only thing bothering you. There's obviously something else wrong. Tell me. Maybe I can help."

Her mother's eyes wandered back to the flame, and Hermione saw the glistening light in her eyes being washed away as she teared up. She leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

Just then, the front door swung open and the cool moist air of the storm filled the room as it blew out a few candles. Her father walked in through the door and quickly closed his umbrella.

"The car's ready Hermione, we can leave as soon as you're ready." He smiled at his teenage daughter.

"I'm ready, Dad" She said.

"Well then we should leave now, we don't want to miss that train of yours, do we?"

Hermione gave her mom one final hug and got up to grab her trunk to leave.

"No, wait." Her mother blurted out.

"What's wrong Adele?" her father asked.

"Honey, sit down" she said to Hermione.

Hermione obeyed and sat down next to her mother, quickly followed by her father.

"We have to tell her" Mrs. Granger told her husband.

"Do you really think now is the right time?"

"Alfred, I've been thinking about it for weeks now. She's ready."

"Mom, what are you talking about? I'm ready for what?" Hermione was confused.

"Just leave it Hermione, I'll explain later." Her father tried to get Hermione to leave.

"Dad, I'm leaving for the next 10 months. Tell me what's going on?"

Alfred sighed and sat down. He reached out for her hand and clasped in tightly.

"Hermione, when you were a baby. Your parents felt that they couldn't keep you anymore."

"My parents? You mean... you guys, right?" her heart was beating faster than it had ever before.

Her mother slowly shook her head. And Hermione felt the weight of the room collapse on her.

"When you were a baby, they realized that they couldn't support you anymore. So they put you in a home where you could be cared for. And then one day, me and your father found out we couldn't have kids." Her mother's eyes were swelling up. "So we went to that home and saw you. You were still only a baby, and the most beautiful one we had every placed our eyes on."

Her father's grip on her hand tightened.

"So we brought you home."

**.**

* * *

**.**

Do you know how it feels to apparate?

It hurts… unless you've had a lot of practice, of course.

Your body aches and your heart, mind and soul feel like they are about to explode into dust.

Well, Imagine you were apparating and time suddenly stopped. And you were left wandering through an empty, stretched out world with an immense pain in your heart.

Well, that is exactly how Hermione felt for the rest of that day.

It was supposed to be a day of joy and excitement. Hermione was going to the one place where she felt like she wasn't a freak. She was going to see all her friends and teachers again. There was so much to look forward to. The train ride to Hogwarts, the beautiful food in the great hall, the cozy home-like Gryffindor common room, and not to mention all of her classes.

Actually, not _all_ of her classes. She did have a shared dislike with her friends for the potions master _Severus Snape_. But apart from that, and the hideous face of Draco and Pansy, she should have been excited out of her mind. But the whole world was just passing by.

It might have been a little better if she had met her friends Harry and Ron in London, but they were nowhere to be found.

Basically, to summarize everything that Hermione remembered from the next few hours, which is not much:

She said goodbye to her father at Kingscross Station, walked through the barrier with her trunk and her cat Crookshanks, and sat alone in a compartment somewhere in the back of the train.

It wasn't until 20 minutes after the train had left London that Harry and Ron found Hermione.

Their pockets were full of junk from the trolley and they were talking about something that Hermione found no particular interest in.

The two boys just walked in, gave her a nice smile with a 'Hey Hermione!" and sat down. A few more minutes of the boys' conversation went by before an awkward silence fell and they finally realized Hermione's mood.

"What's wrong with you, Hermione?" asked Ron.

She wasn't in the mood to hear Ron's philosophical thoughts on the subject, so she didn't answer. Ron, who failed to take the hint, asked again.

This time, Hermione couldn't control herself and for the first time since she'd heard the truth about her adoption… she broke down. She grabbed onto Harry, who was sitting right next to her and started sobbing into his shoulder. Harry looked over at Ron hoping for an explantion.

"Was it something I said?" asked Ron.

.

* * *

.

Through sobs and tears, Hermione told her two friends everything that her mother had told her.

This was probably the quietest train ride into Hogwarts they had ever had.

Ron just sat quietly, this news didn't really affect him that much, but he did understand how Hermione was feeling and even tried to comfort her a bit.

But harry on the other hand, knew exactly how she felt. His real parents were dead. Hermione's were probably as good as dead. But the only major difference between their two stories was that Hermione was actually brought up in a home where she was loved. Harry had been raised by the Dursley's who hated the very sight of him. They too had lied about where he came from.

"There's one thing I don't get though Hermione" said Harry.

Hermione showed no acknowledgment of Harry's words. She just sat with her head against the glass staring out the window.

"Did your parents tell you anything about your real parents?"

She raised her head. Up until now, she hadn't even thought of her real parents, which is unusual because that is usually the first thing people think about in this situation.

"Hermione" Ron spoke. "Do you know what this could mean?"

"What?" she said, barely audible.

"It means you might not be a Muggle-Born witch". An unnecessary smile came on to his lips. I mean you're so good at magic and everything, maybe your parents were not Muggles. Maybe you're actually pure-blood or something." Ron smiled at the thought as if it were a great honor to be a pure-blood. Of course, Ron was not a prejudice bastard, but secretly everyone probably did wish they were pure-blood, even though Ron already was.

Hermione did not find that thought so marvelous. From what she'd seen of pure-bloods, they were all scum bags, with a few exceptions, like the Weasley's, Potters, and Sirius Black.

"Do you think it's possible for us to find out who your real parents are?" asked harry.

"Maybe, but… I don't think I want to. Not right now at least."

"So you have absolutely no curiosity as to who you really are."

"Not at the moment. I'll write to my parents tomorrow and ask them to tell me everything they know about them."

"And maybe we can find some documents of wizards who gave up babies for adoption" suggested Ron.

"Ron, I really don't think that my real parents were wizards." She said it a bit more harshly than she had wanted to.

"And _why_ not, may I ask?" He replied.

"Ron, if they were wizards, why would they put me in a Muggle adoption home? Don't you think they'd want me to go to a wizard family so I could have a normal life?"

"Unless... that's exactly what they were trying to do" said harry.

"What do you mean Harry?"

"I mean, think about it… what big thing was going on when we were all born?" asked harry.

"I don't know. Was there like a quidditch world cup going on or something?" said Hermione.

"No! Voldemort was on the rise"

Ron and winced slightly.

"Maybe, they put you in a Muggle home so they could distance you from all of the disturbance in the Wizarding World."

Hermione thought carefully about what harry had suggested. It definitely made sense. Maybe… just maybe, her real parents were actual wizards.

Maybe… they were still alive.

Maybe, they might even be someone she knows.

.

* * *

**Part 2**

**Her Faceless Ones**

The train ride went by without much but thoughts of Hermione's real parents.

Emotions in a time like this are hard to explain.

You see, at first she felt betrayed. She didn't want to believe it.

Then she felt a little mad at her parents. Why didn't they tell her this before? Why would they keep it a secret for so long? If she had known all along it wouldn't have hurt so much.

Then she felt a slight bit curious as to who her real parents are. How different would her life have been if they never gave her up? Would she still have come to Hogwarts? Would she still have met Harry and Ron?

Then, she felt a bit accepting of the situation. This didn't really change anything. I mean, the news was new… but she had been adopted all along. It doesn't make a difference. Her parents still loved her as if she was their own.

And these here were the different ways Hermione felt over the next few days.

And now that I've summarized her emotions, I'll explain everything that actually happened over the next few days.

* * *

_First thing you should now…_ ***Time Had Started To Fly.***

* * *

They were the last few off the train.

They were alone in the last carriage to the castle

They reached Hogwarts a little later than everyone else.

They did not miss the sorting, like she and Harry had the previous year.

For some reason Hermione had memorized every new student's name and house, which is a difficult thing to do.

* * *

**Slytherin**

_Chelsie Acker_

_Monty Hudson_

_Hilda Livy_

_Marly Saylor_

_Raymond Scriven_

_David Spearing_

**Gryffindor**

_Elizabeth Allard_

_Noah Butler_

_Anna Kole_

_Malcolm Pound_

_Tobin Sappington_

_Kate Summers_

**Hufflepuff**

_Larissa Burrell_

_Xavier Error_

_Tanzi Gilbert_

_Daniel Hyland_

_Debra Ness_

_Esther Silvia_

**Ravenclaw**

_Serina Davidson_

_Wendy Gnarge_

_Jenette Lavigne_

_Virginia Lynville_

_Mark Nye_

_Mathew Sheppard_

* * *

Then Dumbledore welcomed them to the new school year.

And they left the hall, up some stairs and through the portrait of the fat lady, and into the Gryffindor common room.

Hey, how are you? How was your summer? You've gotten so much taller, you look so different, and you got a haircut… I like it better this way… - a friend.

Wow! When did you get those boobs? - some perv

And then… she was lying in her bed.

A few thoughts later… she fell asleep.

* * *

She had a dream. It started off with her sitting in potions class staring at something purple, but she couldn't make out what it was. Then, Snape burst in and started to yell at them for being idiots.

Then the scene suddenly changed. She saw her real parents. They weren't together, and they were both faceless. She heard her father speak. He had quite a stern voice.

He was yelling at two kids in a dark corridor. Hermione moved closer so she could see them better and saw… two of the first year Hufflepuff students. They looked scared. Then she recognized them, it was Daniel Hyland and Xavier Error.

They were just standing there, listening to her father yell about nothing in particular.

Then the scene changed. And her mother was screaming…

She had long dark brownish-red hair.

She was in a room. It was poorly lit. Her mother was running. Everything was black & white.

There was a flash of Green, the only color in the picture. And everything went blank.

She saw… nothing really. It was dark.

But then, there was a red hue in the darkness. And she saw fragments of dusty shapes swimming around.

She opened her eyes to the bright daylight seeping in through the curtains.

She was awake.

* * *

_Now that I've summarized her arrival in words, lets move on with the actual story._

* * *

She sat with Harry and Ron at breakfast that morning, accompanied by Ginny and the Weasley twins.

Things were quite at first, and this was soon pointed out by Ginny. So the three friends quietly explained Hermione's situation to them.

"I don't get something though" said Ron. "If you were adopted, wouldn't the Marauders map show your real name instead of 'Granger'?"

"Well, maybe her real parents name was Granger too" suggested George.

"No, can't have been. The map shows what your parents named you" said Hermione.

"Exactly, and your real parents would have probably given you their own name, not someone else's" said Harry.

"Harry, remember what you said on the train, about the 'you-know-who' thing. Well, I think that maybe my real parents didn't actually give me a name."

"Well, why wouldn't they?" asked Ron.

"I think they might have been on the run from 'you-know-who'. You know, maybe he wanted to kill them or something." Hermione immediately remembered her dream and the flash of green as well. If the dream was somehow true, it meant her mother was dead.

Her friends probably noticed the change of expression on her face because they asked her "what's wrong?"

She told them how she saw her parents in her dream. They all sat quite for a moment thinking about what it could possibly mean.

"Do you remember where they were? Your parents, I mean, did you ask them?"

"No, I didn't actually talk to them. It was like, they weren't aware of me being there, it was as if I was looking through a pensieve." She said.

"Well, Hermione… if you didn't talk to them, then… how did you know they were your parents?" asked Ginny. The others sat around quietly waiting to her to answer.

Hermione thought about it, and honestly, there was no answer, they were right… but for some reason she knew it, they _were_ her parents. But she did know where her father had been standing. It was a Hogwarts corridor. But... Harry broke her train of thought.

"We should get to class Hermione" he said.

As soon as he said this, Hermione had a mini heart attack. She hadn't checked her schedule yet, and hadn't even glanced at her textbooks.

"We have potions, Hermione" said Harry with a sarcastic smile.

* * *

They had this class with the Slytherins.

Professor Snape was late. The Gryffindors sat waiting for the potions master, quietly whispering to each other, while the Slytherins were boasting about their extravagant summer holidays.

Snape burst open the door with a swing of his wand and entered. His robe flew behind him as he made his way to the front of the class near a large cage that was covered in a purple sheet.

"Open your textbooks to page 284. We are going to start off this year with a rather complicated potion. It is used in hospitals all over the world, and can be very useful if you now how to appropriately craft it."

The class was listening silently.

"At the end of the day, we will test all of your potions." He said as he rested his eyes on Neville Longbottom.

"And be warned, this potion will be fatal, should you get it wrong"

The whole class was waiting for him to say the name of the potion.

"For those of you who still haven't turned to page 284" He looked right at Hermione who immediately opened her book. "We will be making a Blood-Replenishing Potion"

Hermione raised her hand as soon as she was sure Snape had finished speaking. He looked in her direction with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Ms. Granger" he said in an annoyed tone.

"Sir, you said we would be testing these when we're finished. But, on whom… you said that this potion could be fatal."

Snape's expression changed to a devious smile. "We will be testing them, Ms. Granger, on the house elves that have been employed here at Hogwarts.

She gave a slight gasp. "Sir, you can't do that."

"Unfortunately Ms. Granger, you are correct. So we will be testing your potions on these." He lifted the purple sheet off of the cage. Inside, there were about two dozen creatures. They looked like pale, slimy deformed shell-less lobsters. They had legs sticking out at odd angles and were about six inches long. They also smelled strongly of rotten fish. Sparks flew out of their ends every so often which propelled them forward a few inches.

"Our new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Hagrid has gladly lent us these _'Blast-Ended Skrewts'_ as he calls them, for our in-class project."

If you've never made a Blood-Replenishing Potion, please understand… it is **incredibly** hard, well… for a fourth-year anyway. To really show you how hard it is, think about it this way… every Blast-Ended Skrewt died.

It was just like Snape to start off the year by giving everybody a big fat zero.

To make it properly, you had to take exactly 1.5ml of the user's blood and let it dissolve into the mixture without any help.

The Stupid Textbook did not mention the proper amount. All it said was "_add 20 drops of the user's blood. Now let it mix._" The professor also 'forgot' to mention this until the end of the class while he was yelling at everybody for being 'idiots'.

"He did that on purpose" Harry complained as they left the classroom. "He just loves to torture us… and other things. I bet he never told Hagrid the real reason he wanted those 'Burst-Abundant Screws' or whatever you call them."

"I bet those nasty little things don't even have blood. They're probably filled with green slime or something." said Ron.

* * *

"Guys" said Hermione. "I need to talk to you"

The three were sitting by the fireplace in the living room, working on an essay that McGonagall had given them on the first day.

She found this a good time to talk because no one was around, except for a few kids sitting in the other corner of the room.

"In my dream last night, I saw the whole potions class thing. I saw the cage with the purple sheet over it" She said.

"You mean... your dream came true?" asked Harry.

"I think so"

"So you think it was like a vision, instead of a dream?"

"Yes, I do. Harry, I want to find those kids, Xavier and Daniel. They were talking to my dad in the vision. They were inside Hogwarts. My dad was here, and he was yelling at them."

"Did you see what he looked like?" asked Ron.

"No, but I know he was my dad… I just know it."

"You can't be so sure Hermione" he said.

"But, I am"

"Then… was your mom here too?" asked Harry.

"No, she wasn't. She was in someone's home... in a bedroom. And she was screaming, then, there was a flash of green and I woke up."

"That's like the dreams I've had of my mum." said Harry quietly.

So it was agreed unspoken, that Hermione's mom was dead.

But a thought struck Hermione.

These were visions.

Maybe Hermione had seen the future, like she did with the potions class thing.

Maybe... maybe Hermione's mom was still alive, but about to die soon.

"We have to find Xavier and Daniel. They are either going to meet my father tonight, or already met him last night.

* * *

_**Please leave a **_**REVIEW**_** and tell me what you think!**_


	2. Lying to the Dead

**Her Strange Situation**

**CHAPTER TWO**

* * *

**Part 1**

**Lying to the Dead**

Suspense, you can't help but feel it.

You see, somewhere in the castle, at that very moment was Hermione's real father… talking to a young pair of Hufflepuffs … or so she thought.

No, I shouldn't say anything… you should watch for yourself.

* * *

Sneaking out of the Gryffindor common room at night was not a big problem. They had an invisibility cloak. But there was another problem.

Where was the Hufflepuff common room?

The three of them had never been there before, so they set out to find someone who would know.

Albus Dumbledore.

"Do any of you know where his office is?" asked Hermione, as they stepped out of the fat lady's portrait.

"It's on the second floor, I know where it is. Follow me." said Harry.

They were facing a gargoyle.

"Is this the door?" asked Hermione.

"Sherbet Lemon" Harry said to the statue. It did nothing but move its eyes over the invisible three.

"Sherbet Lemon" Harry said again. "Open up! Isn't that the password?"

"I remember you" said the gargoyle. "You were the boy who killed the basilisk with the sword two years ago."

"Yes, that was me. Can you please let us in, we have to see Professor Dumbledore"

It narrowed its eyebrows. "Why do you hide yourself?" it asked.

"Cause we don't want to be seen" said Hermione. "Now, can you please let us see the professor?"

"I'm afraid the professor is not here… well, his conscious is absent anyway. He is sleeping. Also, I cannot let you in without the password"

"But isn't the password 'Sherbet Lemon'?" asked Harry.

"It was" said a sharp voice that stunned them. It was not the gargoyle who had spoken. Hermione tried to turn around and see who spoke but before she could a hand ripped the invisibility cloak off of the three.

"What do you three think you're doing disturbing the Professor at this time?" The mini heart attack that Hermione had immediately went away when she saw Professor McGonagall's face, and then after a mille second of thought it came right back.

"We—we just wanted to…" Stuttered Ron but McGonagall cut him off. "Follow me." She didn't sound as angry with them as they would have expected. Hoping they wouldn't get into too much shit for this, they quietly followed her.

* * *

Her office was warm, compared to the cold autumn breeze that was curving through the halls.

There was a familiar sight of tartan plaid and a tin of biscuits sitting on her desk and the quidditch cup, which Gryffindor won last year, sitting on her shelf.

"Sit down" she said to them as she took her own seat behind the desk. Her expressionless face seemed rather tired in the orange haze coming from the fireplace.

They quietly obeyed and sat down.

"So tell me now Mr. Weasley, Why is it that you left your dorms and went to see the Headmaster? It must have been rather important, that you just _had_ to sneak out at this time." She said.

"Please Professor," said Hermione. "We wanted to ask him if he could help us with something".

"With what exactly?" said McGonagall.

"We wanted to know where the Hufflepuff common room is. We think that maybe two students from there are going to meet my father tonight."

Professor McGonagall looked taken aback. "Ms. Granger, your father is a muggle. I don't expect him to be here in Hogwarts. Surely, you are smart enough to realize the stupidity of that answer."

"But Professor, that's the thing. I'm not talking about my muggle father; I'm taking about my _real_ father."

Professor McGonagall stayed quiet for a moment. She seemed lost in thought, but understanding.

"So" she said. "Your parents finally told you?"

"You knew?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, I did." Said McGonagall, "Hermione, your name has been down for Hogwarts since your birth. We knew your real parents gave you up for adoption."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" said Hermione. This was a bit hard to take in.

"It was none of our business. Your parents are the only ones who had the right to tell you." McGonagall picked up the tin from her desk and offered the children some biscuits. Ron was the only one who accepted.

"What do you know about my real parents?" she asked. Maybe, now she would finally know about her true origins.

"Not much" said McGonagall.

It feels like a bullet… whenever hope is damaged.

"What do you mean professor, I thought you said…"

"Your parents disappeared two days after they put you up for adoption. About a week later muggle authorities found their bodies somewhere in the Alps." She said in a sad tone.

Hermione, who was on the edge of tears, stood up to leave, but McGonagall stopped her "Stop."

Hermione froze.

"Wait here" said Professor McGonagall, as she got out of her chair and walked towards the fireplace. She took a handful of Floo Powder from a box on the mantelpiece and escaped into the fire.

A few minutes later, she returned with a large Brown book under her arm. She threw it onto her desk and started flipping through the pages, somewhere in the first half of the book; she stopped and examined a page, then read off of it.

"Hermione Granger. Named and Raised by Muggle parents (Alfred and Adele Granger) from age of 3 months. Born to Hugo Brightmore (Half-blood) and Elizabeth Darwin (Muggle-born). Currently lives with Adoptive Parents." McGonagall looked up through her spectacles. "That's all I can tell you about them dear… I'm sorry"

Hermione sat down again and said nothing. 10 minutes ago she thought she was about to find her parents.

Harry told McGonagall about the dream. McGonagall seemed quiet interested but reassured them it was only a dream.

"Hermione dear, go get some rest, I know this is a lot to take in." She turned to Harry and Ron. "Could you gentlemen please accompany Ms. Granger back to your common room? And please, stay there!"

With that, she bid them a good night and summoned/ordered the Gryffindor ghost Nearly Headless Nick to take them back.

* * *

"Do you know what this means" said Hermione.

The three of them were all alone in the Gryffindor common room. It was around 2 in the morning now and none of them could go to sleep.

"What?" asked Ron.

"I'm a bastard child" said Hermione. "My parents had different last names. They weren't married Ron, you think maybe that's why they gave me up? Maybe they were young lovers and couldn't have kept me because they were forbidden to be together or something?"

"I don't know Hermione, it could be anything" said Ron.

Everyone sat quietly again. There had been a lot of silence this night.

"She was lying to us Hermione" said Harry, rather suddenly.

Hermione looked up at him and saw that he was serious.

"Why do you say that?" she asked him.

"I could tell." He replied. "The way she was talking. And she seemed really interested in your dream too. She wanted us to leave; she didn't even give us a detention or anything."

"Well that's because she probably felt sorry for Hermione" said Ron.

"Yeah, but… come on guys. Do you really want to just sit here and do nothing, or do you want to find out the truth?" Harry said. "I for one am not just going to take her word for it. I mean, it's not that I don't trust her, but she probably doesn't want us to know the truth because she thinks we can't handle"

"So she'd tell us a story as horrible as that?" asked Ron, a bit accusingly.

"Come on Ron, even you know there are things worse than death." He lowered his voice, "What about what they were going to do to Sirius last year"

"Are you suggesting my parents were criminals sent to Azkaban?" Hermione asked.

"Sirius wasn't a criminal Hermione. But yes, maybe McGonagall just wanted you to think that their story is over because she doesn't want you to know they are still out there. Maybe they're in a bad place and she doesn't want you to go looking for them."

"I don't think Professor McGonagall would lie about something like that" said Ron. "I'm going off to bed" he got up and walked over to the stairs leading to the boy's dormitories.

"Oh come on Ron! What if..."

Ron cut him off. "Forget it Harry, there's no way Hermione's parents are going to be in this castle." He then stalked off to bed.

Harry turned his attention to Hermione. She was sitting on the couch curled up with her head resting on her knees. Her features were dancing in the dying fire.

"I'm tired Harry" she spoke in a broken voice, as she hid her face in her knees and let down a few tears hidden in sobs.

Harry walked over and sat down next to her. "Come with me Hermione" he kissed her on a portion of her forehead that was still visible and held on to her shivering body. "Let's go find your parents."

* * *

The two sneaked out of the common room once again, under the cloak.

Nearly Headless Nick was sitting passed out on the ground in front the portrait, probably told by McGonagall to guard it.

They quietly stepped around him and walked down the constantly moving stairs. Not knowing where they were going, they ended up in the Entrance Hall. And to their luck, standing in front of a door right next to the main staircases was a Hufflepuff boy, Xavier Error.

Unlike his name suggested, Xavier was an Arab boy. He had long black hair that covered his ears, like Snape's, except Xavier's hair actually looked nice.

"There you are! You're late" he said as soon as Harry and Hermione took off the invisibility Cloak. The boy had a British accent but still had heavy 'H's'.

"You knew we were coming?" asked Harry.

"Of course" he said. "Now shut up. I can't let you see the way to my cabinet, so I'm going to have to knock you out first."

"Wait, what?" asked Hermione. But, before she could be answered, the crispy little first year quickly hit them each with a curse and knocked them out.

* * *

They woke up tied to chairs right next to each other. Their wands were lying on a four-poster bed in front of them, right next to Harry's cloak.

A bed…

They were in a dormitory, decorated in black and yellow.

They were tied to a chair, unarmed, in a Hufflepuff dormitory.

"Wait… did we just get kidnapped?" Asked Hermione.

"I think so, and by a first year Hufflepuff too…" said Harry.

The shame.

"Oh, they're awake" said a voice from behind them.

Hermione turned her head as much as she could and saw the silhouette of two boys standing next to each other.

"Took 'em long enough" said another voice. The two boys, Xavier and Daniel, made their way over to them and turned their chairs around so they could see the rest of the room.

The sight shocked them. Floating in mid air was a lifeless body of another Hufflepuff student: Tanzi Gilbert.

Hermione Screamed "What the Hell! What did you do to him?"

"Don't scream, you'll wake up the others." said Xavier. "He's just sleeping, calm down. He's my friend; I wouldn't do anything to harm him."

"Then why is he like that?" asked Harry.

"It's a charm, calm down." said Daniel. "We don't want him to wake up during our little business meeting here.

"What business meeting?" asked Hermione.

"This one" Xavier pulled aside some curtains that hung on his wall and behind it was a small cabinet. He opened it and pulled out a small folded carpet.

"Ok, he said. I checked you if you had any money on you and you don't, so I don't know how you expect to pay for this. But, you should know, I found a particular interest in that cloak of yours and I would find it an acceptable price. But, we are prepared to make you an even better deal." The two boys smiled at each other.

"Wait, you guys are selling illegal flying carpets here?" asked Hermione.

"Well, duh!" said Daniel. "What did you think we were doing?"

"Anyway, back to the deal" said Xavier as he looked at Hermione with a dirty smile. "We'll give you two carpets and a pack of fire whisky if the lovely brunette will let us look at and touch her boobies." he said with a sly smile.

Hermione's face went red. What the hell had she and Harry gotten themselves into? She had thought they were going to find her father tonight, but instead she was now tied up by a pair of perverted little Hufflepuff boys who were selling illegal merchandise…

* * *

I'm sorry to interrupt the story but there was a fact that I wanted you readers to know. Do you know how hard it is to break free of ropes that were tied by 11 year old boys?

**Answer:** Not very hard.

* * *

Harry was the first to break free, he got up and kicked little Xavier tightly between the legs, grabbed his wand and unarmed the two boys. He then untied Hermione.

"You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. I'm going to make sure that you two douche bags get expelled!" Harry and Hermione were now holding ever wand in the room, their own wands directed at the two boys.

"I think you picked up the wrong people" Daniel said angrily to his friend. Xavier and him were now standing against the wall with their hands raised in surrender, waiting for Harry and Hermione to attack.

"So you guys have been selling illegal stuff to Hogwarts students?" asked Harry.

"We've been trying to," said Xavier "but it's kinda hard to keep quiet. This was supposed to be our last meeting, I swear! Please, we'll stop! Don't hurt us!"

"We're not going to hurt you" said Hermione.

"But we ARE going to turn you in!" said Harry. The looks on the boy's faces were pitiful.

"No! Please, I promise we'll stop! It's only our first year; I don't wanna get kicked out! Please!" Daniel begged. Hermione was ready to make a deal, they would keep quite if the boys told Harry and her everything they would know about her dream. But she never got a chance to say anything. Harry had just said "No!" when Daniel and Xavier both rushed forward at amazing speed and knocked Harry off his feet. The wands Harry was holding went rolling across the floor and Xavier grabbed Harry's from his hand. Hermione, slightly shocked by the sudden movements aimed a disarming curse at Xavier but it shot right over his head. Daniel's "Stupefy" hit Hermione square in the face and she flew backwards.

Xavier was sitting on top of Harry with his wand tip an inch from Harry's forehead. "You are not taking me away from this school!" he yelled. Harry looked up into the boy's eyes and saw intense mental hatred seeping through them. "I have a job to do! AND I WILL DO IT!"

Harry had only a millisecond to think before he would meet Hermione's fate. His arms were pinned down by Xavier's knees and even though he could probably free them if he tried, Xavier could hit him with 3 curses in the short time it would take. His best bet was his teeth.

* * *

_The following happened in less than 2 seconds:_

He jerked not only his neck, but his whole body upward to displace Xavier and grabbed the side of the wand with his teeth. He gripped it hard in his mouth and ripped it out of the stumbling boy's hands. Daniel who was watching this take place, aimed a curse straight at harry just as Xavier fell sideways into its path.

Xavier rolled over onto his side, stupefied.

Harry took advantage of the moment and took the wand out of his mouth, pointed it at Daniel and just as Daniel yelled "Expeliarma—", Harry yelled "Stupefy!", and it was over (almost).

* * *

If anyone had walked into that room at that moment, they would witness a very curious sight, indeed. The room was dimly lit with the colours of the sheets and walls: Black and Yellow, almost sepia-toned (Forgive me for using 'sepia-toned' to describe something, but that is how it was).

Floating lifelessly a few feet above his bed, his eyes closed and mouth open was one of the residents of the room. The other two young residents were strewn across the floor, unconscious, in awkward and uncomfortable poses.

But the most curious sight of the night was not these three, but rather a skinny boy with jet black hair, pushing a younger boy off him. His arms tired and his head spinning, he walked over to where a young girl with bushy brown hair lay stunned as well. He sat down next to her, studied her face with worry for a couple of seconds and then decided to put his incomplete magical education to the test. "Enervate" he said while tapping his wand on her chest.

It worked.

"What just happened, Harry?"

"We can figure it out later, but right now we have to get out of here."

"Where exactly is _here_?"

"I'm guessing it's their dormitory."

He had guessed correctly.

* * *

Harry grabbed the invisibility cloak and ran through the door into a tiny tunnel that led out into the common room. Many kids had already started to pour out into the common room thanks to all the noise. Harry and Hermione wasted no time and crawled into a portrait hole and out into a small corridor that was lined with paintings of fruit.

They started running and that's when they heard voices behind them, it was Xavier and Daniel, both conscious again chasing after them. They reached the end of the corridor where there was a door. They opened it and stepped into the entrance hall. It was the same door that Xavier had been standing in front of earlier that night.

Hermione looked at the giant clock above the doors to the great hall and saw that it was 4:30am now. They had spent over two hours stuck in the Hufflepuff common room.

Just then, Xavier and Daniel burst through the doors. They didn't look like innocent (slightly perverted) faced children anymore. Their faces were burning with hate and eyes with lust.

Before either she or Harry could do anything, Both Xavier and Daniel yelled "Expelliarmus!" and disarmed the two.

"Why are you doing this? Have you gone insane!" Harry yelled out.

Instead of giving reason, the boys yelled out "Avada Kedavera!" and hit both of them with the killing curse.

The last thing Hermione remembered was staring at the ceiling.

* * *

Do any of you know how hard it is to use the killing curse? Well… put it this way, the great Harry Potter himself had never been able to use it. How much damage do you think 11 year old perverts could really cause?

Surprisingly… it was a lot.

I'm not saying that Hermione never woke up. She did, but not for a long time. As for Harry, I wish I could say the same thing for him :'(

* * *

**A/N Please Read: Thank you very much for reading this. I hope you enjoyed it. I will try my best not to take too long with the next chapter. But I would really appreciate it if you could review and let me know what you think. Reviews usually give me some motivation to write so if you could please take a minute of your time and let me know what you think I would REALLY appreciate it. Thank you. :)**


	3. A Bad Hufflepuff?

**Her Strange Situation**

**CHAPTER THREE**

**A Bad Hufflepuff?**

A few hours went by. _What in hell was going on?_

* * *

The sun crawled out from behind the ominous towers of the castle.

Ron woke up in his dormitory along with Seamus, Neville and Dean and realized that Harry had never come to bed last night.

Hogwarts students filled into the great hall. The air was curious and tense. Something had happened right outside the great hall's doors last night.

It had been witnessed by many sleepy Hufflepuffs who were awoken by the noise. They tried to fill-in their fellow school mates about everything they saw.

Two Gryffindor students, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were attacked by two Hufflepuffs.

This rumor (which was actually true), was quite mind-boggling for most of Hogwarts. Since when were Hufflepuffs supposed to be bad?

"Do you know what happened afterwards?" asked a worried Ron to an anxious Hannah Abbott.

"Daniel and Xavier hit them with the killing curse!" said Hannah to everyone's gasping response. "I saw it myself."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, it didn't really kill them, but they got knocked out pretty bad. And then, I think Xavier and Daniel realized what they did and tried to run. Some of the older students in my house ran after them and caught them near the 3rd floor landing."

"What did you guys do to them?"

"We didn't do anything. Professor Sprout came immediately, and then Professor McGonagall and Snape, and eventually Professor Dumbledore came too. They also searched Xavier and Daniel's room. They had done something to their roommate, Tanzi. He was hanging droopily in mid-air over his bed. Snape got him down and then Professor McGonagall took him to the hospital wing along with Harry and Hermione. And Professor Dumbledore, Snape, and Sprout took Xavier and Daniel with them. And that was it… they told us to go back to sleep. But of course none of us did. We just stayed in the common room. And then Professor McGonagall came back with Professor Sprout and they emptied the boy's room. They took basically everything." Hannah lowered her voice. "They found fire whisky in their room. I think they might have been drunk. They really didn't seem like themselves. I mean… they didn't seem like bad people to me. They were pretty sweet when I first met them."

Professor Dumbledore entered the hall and rushed to his position at the front, near the teachers table.

Everyone went quite as he stood ready to address the school.

"As most of you have already heard. There was an incident last night where two students attacked another pair of students in the entrance hall. Unfortunately, two Gryffindor students were seriously injured in this attack."

The crowd started to grow louder, but stopped as soon Professor Dumbledore raised his voice.

"Quiet!" he looked around at the four houses.

"It has come to my attention that this attack was a result of a disagreement over illegal substances and merchandise that was being sold underground here at Hogwarts." His voice became excessively stern.

"I will not tolerate such behavior in my school!" He said. "Because of this incident, all dormitories at Hogwarts will be subject to a full search, conducted by our Hogwarts staff, for any items that we do not allow within our boundaries." Somewhere in the back of the great hall, Filch seemed to be more joyous than he was back in third year when he shot a little spark out of his wand.

The students, mainly the Slytherins and the Weasley twins were not so joyous about this.

"Now, about the two students who were injured; Harry Potter was not seriously injured and is expected to be back in school by this time next week, as for Ms. Hermione Granger. I am sorry to say that she will not be returning to Hogwarts for the rest of the school year."

The crowd seemed appalled. Surely, the little 11 year olds couldn't have done that much damage.

"As for the two attackers" said Dumbledore to everyone's sudden interest. "The Ministry of Magic has itself already made a full investigation and all charges against the accused have been dropped."

There was an outburst from the students.

"They tried to murder two students!" yelled out someone from Ravenclaw.

"Quiet down!" screamed Dumbledore. "We have our reasons for what we do. I can assure you that Xavier Error and Daniel Hyland are as much of a security threat to you as I am. Our investigation has resulted in the knowledge that the two young boys did not do what they did under their own cognizant. The problem has been completely taken care of and we have made sure that it will not arise again. The two boys will return to their regular classes tomorrow. And if anyone is to trouble them, I will make it my personally priority to trouble _you_. Thank you. Now please finish up with your breakfast and get ready for your classes. "

* * *

"Oh this is horrible!" cried Ginny. "I hope Hermione is ok."

"You know what else, they're going to check our rooms" said Fred. "And how could they let those Hufflepuff bastards off the hook?"

"Dumbledore said that they were not in their right mind. What do you think he meant?" said Ron.

"Do you think someone might have used the imperious curse on them?" asked George.

"Probably" said Ginny. "I mean really… who has ever heard of a bad Hufflepuff?"

"I really don't care about that right now though." said Ron as he took a sip of his pumpkin juice. "I just hope that Hermione and Harry will be alright. And, I really want to know what happened last night. We should go and see Harry after class today."

Ginny nodded and Fred grabbed his things and headed for the door, quickly followed by George.

Classes were glum that day. With two students missing, there really wasn't that much energy left in the class. Hufflepuff seemed to take the situation right at heart and felt ashamed that the attackers were from their house. It was a stain on their reputation.

Ron himself didn't feel that concentrated on his work, he was anxious to see his best mate after classes.

Even Snape was acting different today. Seamus blew a hole in his cauldron while mixing a simple Shrinking Solution and Snape didn't do so much as take away points from Gryffindor.

But the biggest change was seen in Professor McGonagall, she looked tired and worried. She barely talked during the whole class which was basically copying down notes from a textbook. But at the end of the class she asked Ron to stay back and have a chat with her.

"Don't worry too much about what happened dear." she said. "I told you three not to leave your rooms; thank god at least _you_ listened." Her eyes had deep purple circles around them. "Hermione will be fine; it wasn't the spell that hurt her that much. When she fell, she hit her head quite hard on the stone steps near the main staircase"

"Then why will she be gone all year?" asked Ron. "She couldn't have hit her head _that_ hard."

McGonagall sighed "she will spend a week's resting at St. Mungo's and then return home to live with her parents and attend a muggle school.

"But... why?" Ron was shaken at the news. "Why would you not allow her to come back?"

"It was not my decision." said Professor McGonagall. "The Headmaster contacted her parents and both of them and the Headmaster himself think it would be best to keep her away from Hogwarts for the time being."

"They can't do this… why are they doing this?"

"I don't know, dear" she looked down at Ron's shoes. "But, it is for the best."

* * *

Harry was not awake.

Madam Pomfrey said that 'he has awoken several times already but the poor boy is so tired, so weak, just let him sleep'. Though, she did let Ron in to see him.

He sat down on a stool next to his bed, and stared out through the window. The Ravenclaw seeker was chasing a snitch in the distance. The team must have been practicing.

He focused his attention back into the room. The room was empty. The only light was coming in from the dirt coated windows giving the room a gloomy sepia-toned feeling.

There was only one other occupied bed in the wing, it was in the far corner, near the doors and a young girl lay lifelessly on it with a oxygen mask covering her nose and mouth. Ron did not recognize her. She was way too young to be a Hogwarts student.

"She's been sick for three weeks now, but she keeps on fighting, Bless her." said Madam Pomfrey from behind him. She must have noticed him staring at her.

"Who... who is she?" asked Ron.

"That sweet little child, she's my late sister's daughter." she said with a quite sob. "She hasn't been quite well since her mother passed away a month back."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ron looked at the girl once again and then back at Harry. He looked different without his glasses. They were sitting unfolded beside a lightless candle on his bedside table.

The doors to the hospital wing opened and an old man with long white hair stepped in.

"Professor Dumbledore?" said Madam Pomfrey.

"Hello, Poppy. Just thought I'd check up on Mr. Potter." He gave Ron a slight nod and a polite smile.

"He's still asleep. Very tired and very weak, he is" said Madam Pomfrey.

"Wait" Harry groaned. Ron turned to face him. He was awakening from his sleep.

Ron handed Harry his glasses and he sat up as much as he could in bed.

"How are you feeling son?" asked Dumbledore.

"It was Xavier and Daniel!" said Harry instantly. "They have carpets in their room and they tried to fight us."

"We know Harry, its all taken care of, don't worry" said Dumbledore.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked. "They hurt her too."

Ron lied to Harry and said she was fine.

Dumbledore left the room without another word.

* * *

Harry made a fast recovery. By the end of that week, he was back in school. Xavier and Daniel were still nowhere to be seen.

Harry was shocked when he learned the news about Hermione on his first day back.

"We have to see Dumbledore" he said. "I bet he knows why Hermione isn't coming back and he can tell us about Xavier and Daniel too."


End file.
